Written Answers Wednesday 23 August 2006

Scottish Executive

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates its provisional media lines were prepared regarding feedback and provisional figures in respect of persistent young offenders provided by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration to ministers or their officials.

Hugh Henry: Scottish Executive officials continuously update and revise briefing and advice to ministers in the light of new evidence and emerging trends.

  Provisional media lines were prepared for the publication of Quarter 3 2005-06 data on 31 March 2006 and the Scottish Youth Justice Performance Report on 11 July 2006.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many updates highlighting the number of persistent young offenders, compared to the total number of young offenders, ministers or their officials have received from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration which have shown a drop in the number of persistent young offenders for the period since January 2005.

Hugh Henry: Quarterly updates on youth justice are laid in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, covering the period of interest to the member.

  Scottish Youth Justice Data – Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports have the following references - Quarter 4 2004-05 (Bib. number 37303), Quarter 1 2005-06 (Bib. number 39893), Quarter 2 2005-06 (Bib. number 40108), Quarter 3 2005-06 (Bib. number 39894).

  Scottish Youth Justice Performance Report 2003-04 to 2005-06 (Bib. number 40065).

  These updates show the total numbers of young people referred to the Children’s Reporter on offence grounds, and the number of young people who qualified as Persistent Young Offenders in the relevant time period.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings ministers or their officials have held with officials from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration at which the issue of persistent young offenders was discussed or formed part of the agenda since July 2005, also broken down by month.

Hugh Henry: According to Scottish Executive Education Department staff calendar archives, persistent young offenders or youth justice data issues were due to be discussed at eight meetings in the relevant time period.

  The relevant meetings are recorded as follows:

  September 2005

  SCRA and Sponsor Division meeting – 1 September 2005.

  November 2005

  SCRA and Sponsor Division meeting – 17 November 2005

  Youth Justice Data Meeting – 25 November 2005.

  February 2006

  Youth Justice Data Meeting – 16 February 2006.

  March 2006

  SCRA and Sponsor Division meeting – 10 March 2006

  Youth Justice Data Meeting – 16 March 2006.

  June 2006

  SCRA and Sponsor Division meeting – 23 June 2006

  Meeting to discuss 2003-04 to 2005-06 youth justice performance report – 23 June 2006.

  In addition, Scottish Executive officials are in frequent, if not daily, contact with Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration staff on issues of common interest and concern in the area of child care and justice, including persistent young offenders.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, following the meeting scheduled with Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) officials on 16 May 2006, in what format the SCRA is to report to ministers regarding youth justice reporting.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, following the meeting scheduled with Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) officials on 16 May 2006, what level of analysis the SCRA is now required to provide to ministers regarding youth justice reporting.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what direction was given to Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) about what data should be presented in its next annual report at the meeting scheduled with SCRA officials on 16 May 2006.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what direction was given to Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) about what data should be analysed in its next annual report at the meeting scheduled with SCRA officials on 16 May 2006.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what direction was given to Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) at the meeting scheduled with SCRA officials on 16 May 2006 about what should be reported in its next annual report in terms of national standards.

Hugh Henry: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27270 on 2 August 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether PA Consulting Group was involved in the generation of figures on persistent young offenders included in the data published by the Executive and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on 11 July 2006.

Hugh Henry: No. The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration collated the data.

Drug Misuse

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were treated by the NHS for drug dependency in each year since 1999.

Hugh Henry: The number of people discharged from general acute hospitals and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland with an explicit diagnosis of drug dependency from 1999-2000 onwards is detailed in the following table:

  

DischargePeriod
 Number Discharged from General Acute Hospitals
 Number Discharged from Psychiatric Hospitals


 1999-2000
 1,285
 543


 2000-01
 1,507
 591


 2001-02
 1,424
 555


 2002-03
 1,507
 483P


 2003-04
 1,478
 


 2004-05
 1,610P
 



  PProvisional.

  Source: SMR01; SMR04.

  Notes:

  1. Includes Scottish residents only.

  2. Figures in the table relate only to those individuals who are treated as in-patients in acute hospitals or psychiatric hospitals. They do not include individuals managed as out-patients.

  3. Information is on individual patients within a year. If one patient is admitted in two different years, they will be counted separately in each year.

  4. Diagnostic information is defined by using the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10). Dependence syndrome uses a subset of drug misuse codes (F11.2, F12.2, F13.2, F14.2, F15.2, F16.2, F18.2, F19.2).

  5. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of drug misuse may vary from hospital to hospital and over time. Where drug dependency is suspected but unconfirmed it may not be recorded by the hospital.

  6. 2002-03 is the most recent year for which complete SMR04 data is available.

Health

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether patients without traceable medical records are entitled to the same level of access to NHS treatment as those with full records.

Lewis Macdonald: Patients are entitled to the same level of access to NHS treatment whether or not their medical records are complete. For example, in an emergency situation, or in the case of a visitor from overseas, where records are not likely to be available, the NHS will provide the best possible treatment on the basis of the information available at the time.

Homelessness

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has of any connection between homelessness and offending or reoffending.

Cathy Jamieson: Research suggests that there is a complex interaction between homelessness and offending: experience of homelessness is a risk factor for involvement in offending, and spending time in prison is a risk factor for homelessness: previously having been in prison is also a risk factor for involvement in offending. In addition, there is evidence that homeless people experience higher levels of crime than the general population.

  Data on homelessness applications for 2004-05 show that around 10% of single men applying as homeless cited "discharge from prison" as the reason for applying as homeless. See:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1125/0018961.pdf, p.31 Table A.

  A summary of relevant research can be found at Annex A of the document Criminal Justice Accommodation Services – A review and Consultation Paper:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/justice/cjar-15.asp.

Justice

David McLetchie (Edinburgh Pentlands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners released on licence in each of the last six years for which figures are available are still subject to licence conditions; in how many instances the whereabouts of such individuals are unknown, and for what offences these individuals were sentenced.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally in the detail requested. The statutory supervision of offenders on licence is the responsibility of local authority criminal justice social work services.

Justice

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many DNA profiles are held of individuals aged (a) under 16, (b) 16 to 18, (c) 19 to 21 and (d) over 21, broken down by police force area.

Cathy Jamieson: The following table provides a breakdown of the DNA profiles as held on the Scottish DNA database on 8 August 2006*:

  

 Force
 Under 16
 16-18
 19-21
 Over 21


 Dumfries and Galloway
 52
 465
 787
 5,094


 Strathclyde
 183
 4, 540
 9, 188
 68, 158


 Lothian and Borders
 529
 2, 130
 3, 736
 27, 583


 Fife
 552
 1, 482
 1, 745
 13, 689


 Tayside
 359
 1, 099
 1, 631
 12, 850


 Grampian
 400
 988
 1, 689
 14, 891


 Central Scotland
 329
 1, 311
 1, 529
 10, 463


 Northern
 165
 936
 1, 401
 10, 270



  Note: *The police can taken a DNA sample from anyone who is arrested or detained for an imprisonable offence. The DNA profile can be retained on the Scottish DNA Database until a decision is made either not to proceed with the case for which it was taken or the person is not convicted. At present, if there is no conviction or the case does not proceed, profiles are removed from the database. Therefore, numbers taken from the database are only valid at the time which they are taken. The figures in the answer were extracted on 8 August 2006.

Justice

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it calculates conviction rates for specific offences.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive does not publish conviction rates as such. However we do regularly publish statistics on the number of court proceedings where a charge was proved in any one year as a percentage of the number of offences of that category proceeded against in the same year. A copy of the statistics has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37405).

Police

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it gives to police forces in respect of their priorities for resource allocation.

Hugh Henry: The allocation of resources within a force area is a matter for individual chief constables, taking into account strategic priorities set by police authorities. In May, following consultation with the Executive and other key stakeholders, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland published its policing priorities for 2006-09. These reflect the responsibility of chief officers to focus on local needs, working with local partners as well as delivering on a national and international level in response to civil emergencies or in tackling serious and organised crime.

  The nine key priorities are as follows:

  Community Engagement

  Performance Improvement

  Increased Productivity

  Developing a Successful Scottish Police Services Authority

  Standardising Processes/Maximising Shared Use of Information Technology

  Counter Terrorism

  Criminal Justice

  Police Capacity Review

  Delivering the People Strategy.

Rendition Flights

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has contacted the European Commission to determine whether, in the Commission’s opinion, US agencies have used Scottish airports to facilitate extraordinary rendition flights, in light of reports in The Herald on 28 June 2006 that Franco Frattini, Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, believes that such flights have been facilitated through Europe and that governments have a duty to determine whether these actions were illegal.

Hugh Henry: No. The inquiries into the allegations around extraordinary rendition flights have been conducted by the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, not the European Commission. In any case, the investigation of crime, including the collection of evidence, is a matter for the police.

Rendition Flights

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the extent of its own investigations into allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency or its proxies were involved in the transportation of individuals via airports in Scotland to destinations where it is alleged that they were subsequently tortured.

Hugh Henry: It is not for the Scottish Executive to investigate these allegations. The initiation of a criminal investigation is a matter for the police. So far, the police have taken the view that there is insufficient credible and reliable information to support such an investigation.

Road Accidents

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many drivers were involved in road traffic accidents in each year since 1999, broken down by age group

Cathy Jamieson: Information on the number of car drivers involved in road traffic accidents resulting in an injury which were reported to the police from 1994 to 2004, broken down by age group, is given in table 18 of Road Accidents Scotland, 2004 , published by the Scottish Executive in 2006. A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38777).

Suicide

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) men and (b) women committed suicide in each of the last five years, broken down into persons (i) under 18 and (ii) 18 and over.

George Lyon: In presenting statistics on suicides it is conventional to combine deaths classified as intentional self-harm (suicides) with those classified as events of undetermined intent. This is because the majority of the latter are likely to have been suicides. However, this assumption is known to be less valid for children, particularly those aged under 10. For this reason the following table shows the two categories separately and excludes information on events of undetermined intent involving children aged under 10.

  

 
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004
 2005


 Deaths from Intentional Self-Harm (Suicides)


 (a) males
 
 
 
 
 


 (i) under 18
 10
 5
 7
 11
 6


 (ii) 18 and over
 431
 476
 406
 437
 387


 (b) females
 
 
 
 
 


 (i) under 18
 6
 11
 9
 5
 7


 (ii) 18 and over
 162
 144
 138
 153
 147


 Deaths Classified as Events of Undetermined Intent 


 (a) males
 
 
 
 
 


 (i) 10 - 17
 2
 8
 1
 6
 6


 (ii) 18 and over
 202
 186
 164
 155
 149


 (b) females
 
 
 
 
 


 (i) 10 - 17
 0
 0
 3
 0
 1


 (ii) 18 and over
 73
 67
 66
 68
 59

Suicide

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the suicide rate was in (a) 2000-2001, (b) 2001-02, (c) 2002-03, (d) 2003-04 and (e) 2004-05, broken down by local authority area.

George Lyon: In presenting statistics on suicides it is conventional to combine deaths classified as intentional self-harm (suicides) with those classified as events of undetermined intent. This is because the majority of the latter are likely to have been suicides. The following table provides information on this basis. Following normal practice for mortality data compiled by the General Register Office for Scotland, the information has been presented by calendar year. As many of the rates are based on small numbers of deaths, trends should be interpreted with caution.

  Suicides1 in Scotland, Rate2 Per 100,000 Population

  

 
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004
 2005


 Scotland
 18
 18
 16
 16
 15


 Aberdeen City
 12
 18
 17
 21
 17


 Aberdeenshire
 16
 14
 11
 18
 11


 Angus
 6
 11
 15
 16
 18


 Argyll and Bute
 16
 16
 19
 23
 10


 Clackmannanshire
 25
 19
 17
 21
 16


 Dumfries and Galloway
 13
 19
 14
 15
 19


 Dundee City
 22
 18
 18
 13
 13


 East Ayrshire
 30
 22
 14
 13
 17


 East Dunbartonshire
 11
 14
 12
 14
 11


 East Lothian
 11
 11
 13
 15
 10


 East Renfrewshire
 10
 6
 7
 12
 8


 Edinburgh, City of
 20
 17
 11
 13
 17


 Eilean Siar
 30
 4
 23
 11
 27


 Falkirk
 15
 17
 12
 13
 7


 Fife
 14
 19
 11
 14
 15


 Glasgow City
 24
 21
 20
 20
 21


 Highland
 24
 21
 20
 29
 19


 Inverclyde
 18
 28
 19
 17
 18


 Midlothian
 17
 20
 19
 20
 15


 Moray
 20
 17
 22
 21
 16


 North Ayrshire
 21
 14
 14
 16
 15


 North Lanarkshire
 17
 17
 19
 13
 17


 Orkney Islands
 5
 16
 31
 5
 20


 Perth and Kinross
 22
 12
 23
 18
 13


 Renfrewshire
 11
 21
 16
 21
 11


 Scottish Borders
 15
 20
 18
 15
 7


 Shetland Islands
 18
 27
 32
 18
 9


 South Ayrshire
 21
 16
 7
 12
 12


 South Lanarkshire
 14
 19
 11
 16
 11


 Stirling
 17
 15
 13
 15
 8


 West Dunbartonshire
 17
 25
 28
 14
 19


 West Lothian
 13
 16
 16
 13
 11



  Notes:

  1. Deaths from intentional self-harm and deaths classified as events of undetermined intent (all ages).

  2. Rates based on fewer than 20 deaths are shown in italics.

Young Offenders

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why different agencies involved in tackling youth crime are still using different methods to define who is and is not a persistent young offender and when this situation will be ended.

Hugh Henry: The national definition of persistent young offender was set out in the national standards for Scotland’s youth justice services and confirmed in the Scottish Youth Justice Performance Baseline 2003-04  announced on 4 November 2004. This definition was accepted and publicly endorsed by key agencies at that time.

Young Offenders

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it now expects to reach the target set in August 2005 of reducing the number of persistent young offenders to 1,080 by March 2006.

Hugh Henry: The target to reduce the number of persistent young offenders in Scotland by 10% was set in 2002 and the necessary reduction quantified in November 2004. Building a Better Scotland set a further target in 2004 to reduce the total number of persistent young offenders from the targeted levels for March 2006 by a further 10% by end March 2008. That remains in place.

Young Offenders

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what new targets it has set for reducing the numbers of persistent young offenders, in light of a 10% reduction by March 2006 not being achieved.

Cathy Jamieson: No new targets have yet been set with regard to persistent young offenders – we have made it clear we expect all agencies to work to meet the target set for the end of March 2008.